Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-04-03
AN OCEAN LINEMAN.
vIEws AND INTERVIEWS on BOARD
THE nrzrA
Ways and Means Of Repairing SAB
marine Telegraph cables-Hev
Breaks Are Located. :.


boston Gicbe.I
Submarine telegrsphy is different
from land telegrapby in rlany things.
We are all familiar with the method OF
stringing wires along rows of barren
poles beside railroads or highways, or
over the roofs of houses in the cities,
and we have all occasionally seen line.
men, belted and booted and armed
with peculiar steel spurs to aid them
in climbing poles to repair the wires,
but It is not frequent privilege to be
able TO board steamer whose sole oc-
cupstion is to repair the telegraph lines
which form en- invisible but never idle
means of communication with the
countries of Europe.
A prominent object in the harbor OF
Poston during the past few days has
been the steamship Nina. She IS
three-masted vessel, standing high III
the water, and her black sides and tall
yellow smoke-stacS, together with the
strange machinery and anchors at her
bow, and the enormous black buoys
hanging at davits over her sides and
marshalled on her deck, make her an
object of curiosity on the part OF all on
board of passing vessels, or on the more
distant wharves of the city.
The Nina was built at Glasgow IN
1866 for service between English and
Egyptian ports and intermediate points
on the Mediterranean. She has been
employed upon her present work some
twelve or fifteen years, but this is her
first visit to Boston. Her length Is
$50 feet, beam 35 feet, and depth 20
feet. She is OF 1886 gross tonnage
and her engine is of 200-horse power:
She is built OF iron, wooden-sheathed
TO protect her from the ice which she
frequently has to encounter. Captain
Trott and ten officers, including an
electrician, assistant electrician. and
cable engineer, and nearly eighty in
the crew, comprise her present COM
plement Of men. SO much for the
vessel. tttN
So perfect is the insulation of ocean
cables that very much weaker current
of electricity will serve for telegraphing
than upon shore lines. Owing to the
same cause break in the cable can be
found with greater readiness. BY a
calyanometer the position of such a
break can generally be found within
distance of two or three miles.
"What is the longest time that you
ever had to spend searching for a
broken cable" was asked OF an officer
of the Nina.
cit takes, of course, longer in
stormy weather than when the sea is
reasonably smooth" replied the officer.
"In good weather, if we don't find the
break the first day OF searching we
think luck is against us"
At her station at Halifax the officers
of the Nina received notice of break
and its latitude and longitude. The
steamer then promptly puts to sea to
perform the work OF an ocean lineman.
She is equipped with grapnels, buoys,
batteries, galvanometers, signalling III
struments, and an array Of electrical
apparatus that would puzzle any one
but an expert. OF course, supply OF
cable is also carried, to be used in re-
pairing the break when found.
ave have only some 200 miles on
board now" said Mr.. +. A. Hamilton,
the electrician, speaking of the cable.
1--WE have three tanks for storage, and
they hold when full about 600 miles Of
deep-sea tape"
The cable is stored in circular tanks
of sheet-iron, and it is always kept sub
merged i'll water. A circle OF vertical
wooden posts form core, around
which the cable is closely and carefully
coiled like thread around a spool.
Overhead is large circle of iron,
through which the cable is drawn, and
above that is hatchway fitted with a
drum to avoid friction in drawing the
cable TO the paying out machines.
Arrived in the vicinity of the break.
buoy, to which q " mushroom anchor "
is attached, is lowered over the side,
and the grapnel, at the end of hempen
rope strengthened with wire, is drag
ged back and forth across the supposed
line Of the "tape" until it is found.
The old method of ascertaining when
the grappling-iron had caught the cable
was by the use of the dynamometer.
This instrument registered the in
creased strain when the cable was
caught.
BY the more modern process the
thermometer is dispensed with. AT
| the iuncture OF the head of the Crap
, pling-iron and the several prongs but
tons are placed, and when one OF the
prongs picks up the cable the weight OF
the cable presses the button, needle
is pushed through the rubber, and
touches an electric wire which forms
the core of the grappling-cable. A
circuit is thus completed, and the cur
rent rings bell in the restroom. The
grappling-line is then slowly pulled in
and the telegraph cable taken aboard
| the steamer.
The cable is then cut, the fact that II
has been picked up is telegraphed to
| the land end, and then tests are made
| to learn the point at which the defective
part OF the cable is located. When this
Is ascertained the end of the sound ca
BILE is carefully buoyed, and the steamer
slowly picks up the other end and coils
| the cable away in tanks as the steamer
moves toward the break. When
the break or defect is reached
the cable is again cut, and the part 1n-
Guiding the defect is left in the tank
into which it has been coiled. A new
cable is spliced to the end Of the sound
part of the cable, and the steamer
slowly returns to the end OF the cable
which was buoyed, the new cable run
ming cut over wheels and under dyna-
mometer at the stern, although if de
sired the cable can be paid out from
the bow. When the buoyed end of the
cable is reached it is spliced TO the new
section, the cable is dropped overheard,
and the Nina may return to port.
Various grappling-irons are kept OF
hand for use in shoal or deep water, o.
circumstances may require. They
weigh from 200 to 500 pounds each.
The Nina has just returned from {
cruise off Browns Bank, where she re
paired q break in one OF her cables
After few days more in port. to ref
and repair, she viii sail for London
She is employed to repair breaks ant
defects in all the transatlantic cable
in the spool seven in number. Tn,